INDIANAPOLIS — Search the term “hood pins” on Twitter and most of the entries include something about NASCAR’s Sam Hornish Jr.

After he wrecked Kyle Busch last Sunday in the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, Hornish said he tried to look to see if his hood pins were coming loose from the hood of his car and he accidentally ran into the back of Busch’s car.

That set off a slew of criticism, including driver Brendan Gaughan and others calling Hornish “hood pins.” Some fans even jokingly claimed to make up excuses for mistakes by claiming they were looking at their “hood pins.”

Hornish explained Thursday what happened in the race.

“The left front hood pin did come out,” Hornish said. “I went down into Turn 1 and all of a sudden the car started vibrating and it’s because that leading edge of the hood started trying to pop up and it’s doing this (vibrating). At first it feels like the engine is blowing up.

“I could see the one pin (off),” Hornish said. “We’ve got one out, what’s to say the rest of them are not going to come out and you’re not going to be driving into Turn 3 at 185 miles an hour and the hood is going to come up?

“That wasn’t a good feeling. I looked down for a split-second and basically (it) was a lapse in judgment of how close I was to those guys and thought I had plenty of time to look down.”

So what was he thinking?

“I’m like, ‘I’m a car length-and-a-half behind these guys but I did run the high line. There’s no way I’m going to catch them.’

“I just looked down real quick and I could see the hood pin vibrating. I looked up and I’m like, ‘Holy …’”

Hornish said he then made matters worse.

“What I should have done is just hit him right square in the bumper but I tried to turn to miss him, which ended up making it worse,” Hornish said.

Hornish said he did not mean to wreck Busch, who he said is “one of the guys that always tries to talk to me and has always been nice to me,” he said.

And as far as the public outcry, Hornish said there is not much he can do.

“What do people accept more?” Hornish said. “If I say I did it on purpose, they go, ‘You’re a (jerk),’ and if I say it was an accident, they’re going to say, ‘You dummy, what did you do that for?’

“You’re not going to win in that situation. I’d rather just tell the truth and say I made a mistake.”